


Flavors

by Whovian13



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: Firsts, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-19 00:04:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2366885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whovian13/pseuds/Whovian13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonny introduces Will to some new experiences. This is inspired by Will's coffee order during the scene where he comes out to Sonny at CG, except in this story, they haven't officially met yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chocolate

“What can I get you?”

“Oh, a cup of coffee, please. Black.”

“You sure? I can do better than that…I’ve got all these fancy machines back here, and flavor shots, whipped cream…You don’t want to try something a bit more adventurous?”

Will smirked guardedly at the man behind the counter. “Just a straight old cup of Joe for me, thanks.” 

Brown eyes glanced swiftly to Will’s face and then away. “Alright, we’ll work up to it.” When the man turned back to him with his order, there were shavings of dark chocolate on the edge of the saucer. “I’m just gonna let you have a little bit of chocolate, here, okay? And if you wanted to, say, drop some of those shavings into your coffee, and then maybe give it a little stir with this spoon here, well then you could go ahead and do that…” The man smiled, overplaying nonchalance. He nodded dramatically at Will, like they were sharing some kind of illicit transaction, and Will laughed nervously.

“Okay…”

“I’m Sonny, by the way, co-owner and caffeine peddler at this fine establishment.” He held out his right hand.

“Will.” They shook hands, Will pulling away after the briefest touch. “Nice to meet you. It’s a nice place. I like your…‘fancy machines’ and everything.” Sonny laughed, his smile wide and his face open. He made Will feel like there was no one he’d rather be talking to. It was a nice, warm feeling, but it made Will nervous for some reason. He awkwardly raised a hand in Sonny’s direction as a quick goodbye before lowering his head and moving to an empty table on the other side of the coffee shop.

 

* * *

Sonny tried not to stare, but with no orders to fill at the moment, it was hard to focus on anything besides the beautiful blonde man. Will was sitting quietly, his face buried in an intimidating-looking textbook, taking occasional sips of his black coffee. The chocolate shavings sat untouched on the edge of the saucer. Sonny knew he was being ridiculous, but for some reason he was dying to see Will add a little flavor to his drink.

When a new customer stepped up to the counter, Sonny was relieved by the distraction. He focused intently on filling the order—probably more so than was strictly necessary—and he didn’t look up until he was adding a quick squirt of whipped cream to top off the drink. The first sight his eyes met, as it happened, was Will, sitting across the café. At that precise moment, he was raising his index finger—with a small shaving of chocolate pressed to the tip—up to his mouth. The image of his tongue tentatively reaching out to swipe the chocolate from his fingertip held Sonny transfixed. It was only when the customer in front of him cleared her throat loudly that he looked back down to see a mountain of whipped cream towering atop her mug.

 “Too much?” he asked sheepishly. The customer just laughed and glanced discreetly behind her in Will’s direction.

“I don’t know. Maybe there’s no such thing as too much sweetness, huh?” Sonny lowered his gaze to the counter before smiling back up at her.

“I guess not.” As the woman walked away chuckling, Sonny risked another glance across the room. He grinned broadly when he saw Will tipping a spoonful of chocolate into his coffee mug.

 

* * *

Will tried to focus on his economics reading. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly as fascinating as the wide smile and the warm brown eyes behind the coffee counter. He slowly sipped his coffee, which was still a bit too hot. Was that guy—Sonny—flirting with him? Will hadn’t been out for very long. He’d gone to The Spot a couple times, but he had to admit it was a bit intense for him. He had always been pretty slow to try new things, and this was _definitely_ new. He had basically no experience with flirting or reading signals, or whatever. At least one question was already answered, though. Will had heard of Sonny Kiriakis: newly back in town, co-owner of Common Grounds, and the most well-known out gay man in Salem—not that there was a lot of competition in that category. But he was also known for being friendly, upbeat. Maybe he was just that warm and open with everyone?

Will was about to force his eyes back down to his textbook when he took one more glance toward the counter. He looked up just in time to catch Sonny watching him, his lower lip just barely tucked behind his teeth. When their eyes met, Sonny quickly looked away, his eyelids fluttering nervously.  _That’s something, right?_ Will thought. He wished he didn’t feel like such an amateur. He also wished people had neon signs above their heads stating their relationship status and the qualities they look for in Mr. Right.

He sighed and then took another sip of his coffee. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try the chocolate. He cautiously pressed his index finger against a small shaving and raised it to his mouth. He didn’t dislike chocolate; he just didn’t think  _everything_ needed to be flavored.  _Coffee_ is its own flavor, and he never understood the need to dress it up. With the taste of his last sip still in his mouth, however, that little bit of chocolate took on a whole new life. The sweet and bitter of the chocolate mingled with the earthiness of the coffee, and introduced his mouth to an entirely different sensation. He closed his eyes, enjoying this new experience. When he opened them again, he noticed Sonny handing a drink with a ridiculous amount of whipped cream on it across the counter.  _Wow, somebody got carried away_ .

Deciding it was about time he got used to trying new things, Will scooped a generous amount of chocolate onto his spoon and stirred it into his coffee. He took a small sip and was rewarded with that delicious flavor combination he hadn’t even known he was missing out on before. Licking his lips appreciatively, he raised his eyes once more to the other side of the café. Sonny was watching him again, but this time he didn’t look away. His dark eyebrows raised knowingly, and his bright smile reappeared. Will let a nervous grin surface and lifted his mug in Sonny’s direction.  _Here’s to new experiences._


	2. Cinnamon

Will was sitting on the couch in Horton Town Square, working on an English essay. When he first heard about Common Grounds opening, he had anticipated doing a lot of homework there. It seemed like the perfect combination—studying to put him to sleep and coffee to keep him awake. But after his first visit two days ago, he immediately realized that concentrating on school work in that environment was going to be a problem. So today he decided to take advantage of the fresh air and the relative vacancy of the Square in order to catch up in English.

He hadn’t been back to the coffee shop since that first visit. He felt like kind of a jerk, actually, because he’d waited until Sonny went into the storage room and then made a swift exit. It was a cowardly way to behave, and didn’t exactly jive with his whole ‘new experience’ resolution, but he just didn’t feel prepared to get through another conversation with the man. There was something about Sonny’s open demeanor that startled Will and made him feel inadequate. He had never met anyone so comfortable in his own skin.

He was almost done with his outline when he was distracted by a sudden overpowering scent. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, finally identifying the sweet tangy aroma as…cinnamon.

“Sorry, am I interrupting your meditation time?” Before he even opened his eyes, Will knew what bright, warm smile awaited him. He looked up into the brown eyes, crinkled at the edges, and opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out.

Sonny’s smile faltered a little at Will’s silence. It was the first time Will saw him look anything but confident. He felt bad, but he had to admit to himself that it was a small relief to see a crack in the perfection. But he missed the smile, so he forced the words out of his mouth.

“Hey, sorry. I was…distracted. How’s it going?”  _There we go._ The smile was back, and Will greeted it with his own.

“Well, it was going fine until I spilled an entire bottle of flavored syrup all over myself. I’m actually just heading home to change my clothes.” To emphasize his point, he held the front of his shirt away from his body, and Will noticed now that there was a dark wet splotch covering most of the fabric. He inhaled deeply.

“Oh, cinnamon.”

One corner of Sonny’s mouth quirked up. “Yeah, that’s the one. God, I must reek, huh?”

“No!” Will said a bit abruptly. “I like the way you smell—I mean, you smell good…I like cinnamon,” he finished lamely, a blush warming his face.

Sonny blinked rapidly, his dark eyelashes fanning his cheeks. “Sure, but would you put it in your coffee?” He raised his eyebrows at Will.

“I might. I’ve decided recently that I should be open to new experiences. The last one was pretty successful. Actually, I meant to thank you for your weird chocolate-pimping services. I didn’t know what I was missing.”

Sonny laughed.  _It’s even better than the smile_ . “Well I’m glad I could help. If you stop by the coffee shop later, we could try out the cinnamon idea.” He looked down at his shirt. “Just not, you know, the whole bottle.”

“Sure, I’ll be there.” Will awkwardly tapped his pen against his notebook. “Well, I guess you better take your shirt off.” Sonny’s eyebrows shot up, and Will just about choked on his own tongue. “I mean, change your…you know what I mean…” He started intently scribbling along the margin of the paper.

Sonny cleared his throat. “You’re right. This is kind of sticky.” Will’s pen slipped off the page and jabbed into his thigh. Sonny didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, later.”

* * *

 

Ever since he walked out of the storage room to find that Will had left, Sonny had been hoping to run into him again. Of course, he wasn’t planning on being covered in a quart of syrup when that happened, but what can you do? In any case, it turned into a pretty interesting encounter, and as he opened the door to his apartment, he replayed the highlights in his mind.

He had chuckled to himself when he saw Will sitting on the couch with a notebook in his lap and his eyes closed. Maybe he was working on some sort of osmosis-related studying. But he looked so relaxed that Sonny almost didn’t want to disturb him. He just couldn’t help himself.

And he was so glad he did.  _“You better take your shirt off.”_ Come on, even if that was just a slip of the tongue—hmm, Will’s tongue—the blush that covered his cheeks told Sonny he wasn’t the only one whose thoughts were less than pure. And then he almost impaled himself on his own pen at the word “sticky.” He tried to play it cool, but as soon as it slipped out of his mouth, Sonny was grateful that he wasn’t prone to blush easily.

Once inside his apartment, he stripped off his cinnamon-flavored shirt and headed to the bathroom to clean the syrup off of his chest and stomach. Standing in front of his closet to pick out a new shirt, he had to remind himself that he was just going back to work and that there was no guarantee that Will would even show up.

“It’s not a date, it’s not a date.” He settled on a charcoal grey button-down shirt, but he rolled the cuffs up a few times in an effort to look more casual.  _Get yourself together, man._

 

* * *

 

Will checked the time on his phone and then absentmindedly rubbed at the ink mark on his jeans. How long was he supposed to wait? Sonny had said “later,” but how much later? He was trying desperately not to read too much into things, but he couldn’t help the word “date” from constantly popping into his head.  _It’s not a date._

Finally, after two more hours of staring blankly at the scribbles in his notebook, he shoved his things into his backpack and headed for Common Grounds. When he walked through the door, Sonny was nowhere in sight, so he settled down at the same table as last time and pulled out his notebook. At least he could pretend to be constructive.

Fifteen minutes later, he was doodling distractedly in his notebook when a steaming mug of coffee slid onto the table in front of him.

“Try that.” Will looked up to see Sonny standing over him, a sleek grey shirt replacing his previously soaked one.

“I’m glad to see you’re not…sticky anymore,” he said with a slight blush. He blew over the lip of the mug to cool the coffee before taking a tiny, slurping sip. “Mmm, that’s good.”

Sonny grinned down at him. “Right? I knew you’d like it.”

Holding the cup in front of his face, Will inhaled deeply. “It smells amazing, too. I was afraid it would be too sweet, but it isn’t really sweet at all.”

Sonny looked very proud of himself. “That’s because I didn’t use the syrup. It’s ground cinnamon brewed right into the coffee. This way the spice comes out without overpowering the flavor of the coffee. I thought that would be more your speed.”

“You’re right, it’s perfect.” Will reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “How much do I owe you for this?” He was slightly startled by the feeling of Sonny’s warm hand covering his, preventing him from opening the wallet.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s on me.”

* * *

 

When Sonny stepped out of his office to see Will sitting at the corner table, he couldn’t stop himself from nervously smoothing the front of his shirt. He quickly prepared Will’s drink and softly approached him, appreciating the chance to watch without being observed himself.

Will had his left elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. With his right, he was scrawling on the notebook in front of him. His eyes were lowered, and his downy eyelashes fluttered slightly as his gaze moved across the page. When he raised the pen to his mouth and bit down on the end of it, Sonny almost tripped over his own feet. As he got closer to the table, he noticed that Will only appeared to be working; the entire sheet of paper was covered with different versions of the same word: “Cinnamon.” He had written in print, cursive, and block letters, among others, until there was almost no blank space remaining. Sonny smiled to himself.

“Try that.”

“I’m glad to see you’re not…sticky anymore.” The pink warmth spreading across Will’s cheeks, combined with the image of his full lips puckered over the rim of his coffee mug, made Sonny’s heartbeat speed up.

He was beyond pleased that Will liked his offering. When Will took out his wallet, Sonny reached out to stop him without thinking.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s on me.” Suddenly nervous, he let go of Will’s hand. He stood there awkwardly, his arms hanging by his sides, while Will put his wallet away. When their eyes met again, a small smile appeared on Will’s face.

“Do you want—I mean, do you have time to sit? With me, that is?” Will glanced down and all at once became very interested in the handle of his coffee mug.

Sonny took a slow breath in order to prevent himself from shouting “yes!” and scaring the wits out of everyone in the café.

“Sure. How about I grab something for myself and then come back and join you?”

“Great. Sounds like a plan.”

_Sounds like a date_ , Sonny thought as he walked away.

 

 


	3. Caramel

_It_ was _a date_ , Will thought , paying no attention whatsoever to his political science professor’s lecture the next day. It had seemed like a date. It definitely had date-like qualities. They drank coffee (which Sonny treated, since, well, it was his coffee shop). They exchanged phone numbers. They got to know each other. It turned out Sonny already knew a little bit about Will, too. Even though he wasn’t in town when it happened, he knew that Will had been outed on the front page of the newspaper. And of course, he knew how their mothers felt about each other. They even figured out that Will’s cousin Abigail was also Sonny’s cousin. They were very quick to determine that the relationship was through different sides of Abby’s family, however. _Thank God_.

 Will was still astounded at the things he had learned about Sonny the day before. He had climbed mountains, traveled the world, and seen countless things that Will could only dream of. It made him feel inferior in so many ways. But then he remembered the look in Sonny’s eyes as he shared some of his own past. Sonny was clearly fascinated by Will’s relationship with his siblings, and the way he took care of them when their mother wasn’t around. He asked all kinds of questions about Will’s interests, and was very impressed—and confused—when Will explained some of his computer programming projects.

But more than everything else, Will’s strongest impression of that morning was the constant desire he had felt to touch Sonny’s hand again. As they sat on opposite sides of the small round table, their forearms resting on its surface, their hands were only inches apart. Once, when Sonny leaned forward in his enthusiasm while talking about Switzerland, his fingers almost brushed up against Will’s. Will wanted to close that last little gap so badly, to hold Sonny’s hand, to caress Sonny’s palm with his fingertips. But he hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it. So instead, he had watched Sonny’s animated face and sipped his cinnamon-flavored coffee.  _One new experience at a time_ .

He sighed and tried to catch the last few minutes of the lecture.

* * *

Sonny had been giddy all morning. In fact, he could tell that Chad, his business partner, was getting a little fed up with his antics.

“Dude, can you just hold still for five seconds! I’m trying to finish this inventory, and I can’t concentrate with you prancing in and out of here all the time.” This after the tenth time that Sonny wandered into the storage room where Chad was working, just to ask him if he thought it was too early in the season to start promoting their peppermint macchiato. For some reason, Will’s lips made him think of peppermint. Prudently, he refrained from sharing that particular sentiment with Chad. “And yes, it’s too soon. It’s barely October, man. We’ve got pumpkin spice coming out of our ears—we can do peppermint in December.”

“Right, right, of course. Okay, I’ll let you work.” He started toward the doorway, but Chad stopped him.

“Hey, Lauren’s out there, right? Why don’t you take a walk or something, get some fresh air? She can handle the counter.”

“That’s a great idea, thanks!” Sonny replied, more enthusiastically than Chad probably thought was warranted. “I love the fall weather, don’t you?”

“Yeah, man, fall…rocks,” Chad smirked at his friend before turning back to his work.

Sonny prepared a hot drink to take with him before heading outside into the crisp autumn morning. As he approached the park, he was enjoying a long, slow sip of the steaming beverage when he heard his name and looked up.

“Will! What’s up? You out of class already?” As he got closer, Sonny had to stop himself from pulling Will into a warm hug. Instead, he let his free hand hang at his side while he took another sip from his to-go cup. Will clutched a stack of books to his chest and shifted from one foot to the other.

“Yeah. Well, my first one. I have Calc in an hour, and then English later. What about you? Any classes today?”

“No, I’m at the coffee shop today. Well, not right now obviously.” He chuckled at himself. “I’m taking a break.”

“Oh, well do you want to maybe have a seat?” Will gestured toward the nearby park bench. “I mean, if you don’t have to get right back to work?” He glanced toward the ground, and Sonny’s already present smile got even wider.

“Yeah, I’d love to.”

* * *

Will was so surprised and pleased to see Sonny that he didn’t even realize he’d said his name aloud. It was one of those moments when your mind is focused on a single thing, and then suddenly that thing appears before you. Will felt like he had conjured Sonny out of thin air. _If only I could do that whenever I wanted…_ He blushed slightly, remembering all the times he had been thinking about Sonny since they had coffee the day before. Some of those instances would have resulted in a very startled Sonny.

Once they were settled next to each other on the bench, Will’s books and backpack on the ground beside them, Will found that he couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say. They weren’t touching in any way, but just the proximity made Will’s brain a little fuzzy. Sonny was taking a long sip of his drink, and when he lowered the cup, a small feather of foam stuck to his upper lip. Will couldn’t take his eyes off of it, and when Sonny flicked his tongue out to collect the white fluff, Will suddenly found his right hand in a death grip on the bench’s armrest.

“What—“ He cleared his throat. “Uh, what are you drinking there?”

“It’s a caramel latte. You want to try it?” Sonny held his cup toward Will.

Will hesitated. “What’s in it?”

“Well, espresso and steamed milk, basically. And caramel, of course. Come on, I think you’ll like it.” He tipped the cup from side to side encouragingly and gave Will a bright smile, and Will finally grabbed it. Taking a small sip, he closed his eyes and savored the sweetness.

“Mmm…” He licked his lips, and when he opened his eyes, he noticed that Sonny’s smile was gone. His mouth was slightly open, bottom lip gently tucked behind his teeth, and his eyes were focused on Will’s lips. Will’s mouth suddenly went dry, so he took another sip of the latte. Then he involuntarily licked his lips again, and Sonny’s eyes closed for a brief moment.

“It’s, um, good. Sweet, but—but good,” Will stammered. He held the cup back out to Sonny, who didn’t really seem to be listening. “Sonny?”

Sonny took a deep breath, like he’d been holding it in, then raised his eyes to meet Will’s and blurted out, “Can I take you on a date, Will?”

* * *

“Can you—?” Will didn’t mean to sound like an idiot, but his brain had chosen this moment to freeze in place.

“I’m sorry,” Sonny said, more softly this time. “I was hoping for more eloquence than that. But I would—Will, I’d like to take you out, you know, to a movie or dinner, or both… Or we could maybe go to a concert—whatever you want to do is fine with me.”

Besides the fact that he found it completely adorable, Will was grateful for Sonny’s rambling because it gave him time to get his voice working again.

“That would be…great,” he finally said, smiling shyly at Sonny, who grinned gleefully back at him. “But actually, I’ve been wondering—since you brought it up…would you call yesterday a date?”

A short, deep laugh burst from Sonny’s mouth. “I was thinking the same thing, actually. I’d say it was date-ish. But this would be official, a definite date. We could even make a banner if you want. Or, like, wear campaign buttons or something.” He winked at Will.

“You’re ridiculous…” Will laughed. Still holding the coffee cup in one hand, he reached the other one slowly toward Sonny. “Maybe we could just hold hands instead?”

Sonny’s smile softened and he blinked quickly a few times. He grasped Will’s hand in both of his and gently rubbed his thumb over the back of Will’s knuckles.

“That’s a much better idea.”


	4. Peppermint

The following Saturday evening, exactly a week since he first met Sonny, Will was pacing around his dorm room. He had given himself plenty of time to get ready for their date, so now he had nothing to do but wait as the hands on his watch inched closer and closer to eight o’clock. He still had ten minutes before Sonny was supposed to arrive, and he did not know what to do with himself. So he just kept wandering back and forth, shuffling his feet across the carpet and forcing himself not to keep running his hands through his hair. He liked the way Sonny’s hair sometimes stuck out in kind of a wild way, but Will was pretty sure that look wouldn’t work for him.

Finally, the knock came, and Will sprinted to the door, but then he paused to collect himself.  _Chill, dude_ . He opened the door and attempted a casual demeanor, but he couldn’t prevent the quick intake of breath at the sight of Sonny Kiriakis. It wasn’t so much what he was wearing, but how he wore it. His jeans hung low on his hips in a relaxed way, and the short sleeves of his button-up shirt fitted just perfectly around his toned upper arms. The top button was undone, the collar splayed out, revealing a triangle of smooth, tanned skin just beneath his throat. Will found his eyes immediately drawn to the indents above Sonny’s collarbone. He imagined brushing his fingers lightly over the soft contours there, and he blinked slowly.

“Uh, hey, Will…” Sonny raised his eyebrows as Will stood frozen in the doorway. Blushing deeply, Will finally dragged his eyes up to Sonny’s face and smiled guiltily.

“Hi! Sorry, you just—uh, you look nice.” He lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Thanks, so do you.” Will could hear the sincere smile in Sonny’s voice even before he looked up. “This is for you.”

From behind his back, Sonny produced what could only be described as a bouquet of candy canes. There were six of them, with shimmery red cellophane wrapped around the stalks. A purple ribbon bound them together, curling tendrils hanging from the knot. Will automatically reached out to accept them, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

“I know it’s weird, right? But I’ve had peppermint on the brain all week. Plus, I figured flowers were kind of cliché.” 

Will chuckled softly. “Thanks. I love candy canes. They’re one of my favorite things about Christmas…which isn’t for two-and-a-half months, by the way…”

“I know, I know. Chad had to talk me out of busting them out at the coffee shop the other day. I can go with something more conventional next time, if you want.”

“No! I like them. I mean, you didn’t have to get me anything, but it’s very sweet.”

Sonny’s eyelashes fluttered softly, a habit that was already becoming one of Will’s favorite things about him. “Good. I’m glad. You ready to go?”

“Definitely.” Will set the candy canes on the small table by the door, extracting one of them from the wrapping and dropping it into the breast pocket of his shirt before closing the door behind him.

 

* * *

The carnival had been Will’s idea, and Sonny thought it was adorable. They went on a few rides, but mostly they just walked around the fairgrounds, checking out the games and people-watching. The only game they won was the one where you throw a baseball at stacked wooden milk bottles. Actually, Will won that game, and Sonny was pretty damn impressed with Will’s throwing arm.

“I wish I could have seen you play baseball in high school.”

“Well, you didn’t know me in high school, and I wasn’t that good anyway,” Will replied modestly.

“Yeah, but you wore those tight white pants, right?” Sonny grinned as Will blushed.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

Sonny loved it when Will blushed. It made him seem so sweet and innocent. Come to think of it, Sonny found himself wondering just how  _innocent_ Will actually was. But he figured there would be time to talk about that later. He didn’t want to rush anything anyway, and for now he was enjoying the simple pleasure of holding Will’s hand in his as they strolled from booth to booth, listening to the tinkling carnival music.

As the evening wore on, the air turned colder, and Sonny noticed that Will’s shoulders were hunched and his arms were crossed snugly in front of him. He only thought about it for a split second before bringing his arm up around Will’s shoulders and tugging him against his side as they walked.

“You okay?” He massaged his fingers into Will’s bicep and then rubbed his hand up and down, trying to warm him up.

Will sighed. “Oh, yeah, I’m good. But maybe we could get some food? And some hot cocoa?”

They stopped at the next food truck, ordered hot dogs and drinks, and then found an empty picnic table off the promenade. As soon as they sat down, both on the same side of the table, Will retrieved the candy cane from his shirt pocket. He peeled the plastic back most of the way and then dipped it into his cocoa. He stirred it around a few times before bringing it up to his mouth. Sonny watched as Will sucked the warm liquid off of the candy cane and then dipped it back into his cocoa, letting the hooked end catch on the lip of the cup.

“Mmm, thanks for the candy canes.” Will turned his face toward Sonny when he didn’t answer right away.

“You—you’re w-welcome,” he finally stuttered. He took a deep breath. “That’s a good idea, dipping it in the cocoa.”

Will withdrew the candy cane from the hot liquid again and held it towards Sonny. “Want a taste?”

Sonny swallowed slowly. “Yeah.”

He reached a hand around the back of Will’s neck and pulled him close, gently brushing his lips against Will’s. Will inhaled sharply but didn’t back away, so Sonny allowed himself two more chaste kisses before pulling back to look into Will’s eyes. Except Will’s eyes were closed, his eyebrows raised slightly as he breathed out a slow sigh. After a moment, he finally met Sonny’s gaze and smiled shyly.

Sonny waited a beat, then closed the gap between them again, and this time Will parted his lips just a little. Their mouths melted slowly together, and Sonny tasted the sweet tingle of peppermint mingled with the smooth warmth of chocolate. He sighed as Will tentatively slid the tip of his tongue along Sonny’s upper lip, and he brought his other hand up to Will’s cheek as he tilted his head into the kiss.

Will’s left hand was clutching the front of Sonny’s shirt, his right still holding the forgotten candy cane. There was a quiet clink as the candy cane dropped to the table and Will slid his now free hand up Sonny’s chest, over his shoulder, and up to the back of his head. His fingers wove into Sonny’s thick dark hair, and the slight tug made Sonny shiver. Trying to collect himself, Sonny pulled Will’s bottom lip into his mouth one more time before ending the kiss.

“Mmm,” he hummed, finally backing away from Will’s full, soft lips. He caressed Will’s jaw with this thumb as their gazes locked. “Will, that—I…”

“Yeah,” Will breathed in response. “I know.”

* * *

 

For the rest of their date, Will had a little trouble focusing on the words coming out of Sonny’s mouth. His eyes kept drifting to Sonny’s lips, watching them move, the sound drowned out by the memory of Sonny’s mouth against his. Just like after the first time Sonny touched his hand at the coffee shop, now that Will had had a taste, he just wanted more.

They spent the rest of the evening wandering through the carnival in a daze, until Will began to get even colder, and Sonny offered to take him home. When they reached his dorm room, Will opened the door, unsure if he should ask Sonny in. They paused in the doorway and stared at their shoes for a moment. Then they both spoke at once.

“I don’t know if you maybe want to come in, or—“

“Well, I guess I should get going—“

They both laughed, and Will tried not to look disappointed as Sonny rested a hand on his shoulder.

“I had a great time, Will, but I think we better say goodnight.”

“Oh, yeah, of course, you’re right,” Will mumbled awkwardly. He didn’t want to seem too eager, but he was reluctant for the night to be over.

“Look,” Sonny said, waiting until Will met his eyes to go on. “I hope this is just the beginning. I want to spend more time with you, get to know you better. We’ll talk tomorrow, right?”

Will nodded, somewhat reassured. “Sure. That sounds good.”

“And Will?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to—can I kiss you one more time before I go?”

Will smiled crookedly. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?” Sonny’s eyes shined back at him.

“That this is the last and only time you ask permission.”

“Deal.” Sonny stepped closer so their bodies were almost touching. He brought his other hand up to match the first one on Will’s shoulder, then slid them both up to caress his neck as he placed a gentle kiss on Will’s lips. Just in case that was as far as Sonny was planning on going, Will didn’t give him a chance to pull back before sliding his tongue between Sonny’s lips, urging them apart. It didn’t take much convincing, however, and soon their mouths were open and they were tasting each other in long, slow strokes. Will rested his hands on either side of Sonny’s hips, his fingers curling against the waistband of his jeans.

Will had never experienced a kiss like this, so gentle and exciting at the same time. He was lightheaded and giddy, savoring Sonny’s warm mouth and his deft tongue. Here again was another amazing flavor he didn’t know he had been missing out on. But sooner than he would have liked, Sonny pulled away. They were both breathing quickly, and their hands remained in place while Sonny rested his forehead against Will’s.

“Wow…Will, I have to go, now.”

“Right now?” Will tipped his chin up to catch one more kiss. Sonny barely let their lips touch before pulling back again, straightening his arms to allow a little more distance.

“Yeah, yes, right now, while I’m still thinking clearly. Well, almost clearly.” He smiled warmly at Will. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? We can meet for lunch if you want?”

“Okay. I had a good time too, you know.” Sonny let his hands slide down Will’s arms to clasp his fingers. He took a step back so that their arms were extended between them.

“Goodnight, Will. Sweet Dreams.” He finally let go of Will’s hands, and as he turned to walk down the hall, Will spoke just loud enough for Sonny to hear.

“Oh, they will be…”


End file.
